I’m usually grateful to come up with a single idea for the week’s posting. This week I have two that have been doing battle in my head. They may wind up in a dead heat, calling for shared space or I may start down one of the two roads and discover that I have more to say on the subject than I realized and leave the second for another day. I’ll try that. Here goes. From the moment the media...
Wake at 6:30. Dress in “hanging out” clothes, as Dalia calls them. Feed Nutmeg wet food and go to computer to check overnight and early morning mail. Feed her Temptations in kitchen and return to computer. Take my pills. Go to elevator to retrieve newspapers. Put sports section aside for breakfast reading but do Jumbles to get brain going. Prepare breakfast. My day – and yours – consists of a...
For days after the 9/11 attack, the newspapers were full of lists and profiles of the almost 3,000 victims in the Twin Towers. There was a certain morbid fascination that drew me to this devastating material, but it contained an interesting perspective on our grieving country. The names of the victims represented a virtual United Nations of backgrounds – people from an extraordinary array of...
“One of the most powerful, beautifully written books I’ve ever read — a transformative experience. If I were a teacher, it would be at the top of my syllabus just to see how many were changed.” I saw this message on FB, which was posted by a friend whose literary judgment I respect. She was referring to Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Even though it won the Booker Prize last year, this book by...